A Rio Christmas
by Exortile
Summary: Christmas is a time of fun and enjoyment and also relaxation with family. Every year, it brings the family close together and many relatives also too. But not every family celebrates Christmas the exact way that a different family would for example. With that being said, how would the Gunderson family celebrate their Christmas?


**A/N: Hello again guys! I bet you didn't expect a story from me this quick, huh? Anyways, I present to you my Christmas special story. This is not going to be sad or anything, just family fun, because it seems like some people don't take it very well, as opposed to my last story (** _ **cough**_ **monsterjamvadim** _ **cough**_ **). Before we get on with this story, I want to wish you all a Merry Christmas and the best of times with your family these next few days. Without further ado, enjoy!**

 **PS. This story is a one-shot.**

* * *

 **A Rio Christmas**

 _ **24th December 2018**_

The Gunderson family settled in at their cozy bookstore located in Minnesota, Moose Lake a few days prior, as that is tradition to go on vacation in Minnesota every Christmas. They have gotten into the Christmas spirit and all, and finally, the day arrived - Christmas Eve.

The day, where you get to open the lovely presents from Santa Claus and a day of fine dining (and a _lot_ of dining), relaxing and also where you get to have good times with your loved ones. It is truly a remarkable holiday for each and every one of us.

Outside the bookstore window, you could see snow pouring down from the skies above, coating the pavement and every bench on the streets with a lovely, glistening and white layer of snow. It was cold outside, yes, but the family would get used to it pretty fast, not to mention, they were residing in a very cozy bookstore.

They had arrived early so they could find a tree to set up in their bookstore. It took the humans some time before they found a suitable tree to place in the living room, but needless to say, they found it. Once the tree was brought in, it was decorated with all sorts of decorations to match the spirit such as toppings, ornaments, tree angels, lights and also ribbons. Upstairs at the fireplace, stockings were also planted above it.

Not only the insides of the bookstore were decorated, but also the outside. Outside of the bookstore, you could see Christmas lights hanging on the bookstore walls, to give it a nice look. To top it all off, the family had placed a Christmas wreath on the door of the bookstore, but the bookstore wasn't the only thing decorated in the small area. The lamp posts on the streets were also filled to the brim with Christmas decorations, including the neighboring houses, so you wouldn't accidentally hop out of the Christmas spirit if you know what I mean.

Going over to the family of birds, they were having fun on the couch watching all sorts of holiday programmes the TV had to offer. Blu was on one side of the couch, cuddling with Jewel and enjoying their time. On the other side of the couch, you could see the trio of birds, who were Blu and Jewel's offspring, also enjoying watching the TV.

"Isn't this just perfect? Our whole family is together, without anyone to bother us," said Jewel, trying to start a conversation.

Blu looked at Jewel and smiled whilst saying "I agree, honey. Can't wait to see what presents we have in store for us."

Jewel returned Blu's smile and they went back to cuddling on the couch. The trio of birds, aka Blu and Jewel's offspring, decided it was a good idea to go outside to play since it was getting kind of boring to just sit inside.

They flew out of the slightly opened window and started throwing snowballs at each other to pass the time. Bia and Carla teamed up on Tiago to pay him back for all the pranks he has pulled on them since they settled in the Amazon, as Tiago had a wider variety of tools to work with to pull pranks on his siblings compared to the homes they had in Rio de Janeiro and Minnesota.

In the midst of playing though, a lone Lear's macaw was flying around the city of Moose Lake. The macaw had gray eyes with yellow around them, long wings and a beautiful deep blue plumage. Now, this was an extremely rare sight, given that it was in Moose Lake and not in a South American country, these types of birds weren't supposed to be here but nonetheless, he was there.

The Lear's macaw spotting the group of birds playing with snow on the ground, he descended onto the ground near them and started walking unsurely towards the group of birds, because he wanted to make friends.

The group of birds turned around from hearing what sounded like footsteps on snow and they spotted him.

"Oh, hey there... what are you doing out here in the cold like this, aren't you supposed to be with your parents?" Tiago asked, very curious and worrisome at the same time.

The other macaw flinched at the word "parents" and responded "Well uh… they aren't available… to say the least."

The group getting the hint, Bia asked cautiously "If you don't mind… what happened?"

He looked to the ground to mentally prepare himself for telling the story of him losing his parents…

* * *

 _A young family of Lear's macaws were waking up in their hollow located in Rio de Janeiro. It was a beautiful morning like any other morning, the birds were singing, the sunlight poured into the hollow and the jungle was as green as ever. The first one to wake up was the two Lear's macaws' son._

 _He groggily opened his eyes and looked around the hollow to find his parents also stirring. The father's name was Antonio and the mother's name was Julia. The mother had shiny green eyes, whilst the father had deep brown eyes._

" _Well, good morning, Flavio," Antonio greeted his son._

" _Good morning, dad," he replied back, smiling._

" _And good morning to you too, honey," said Antonio, turning to his wife and pecking her on the cheek._

" _Good morning. Shall we go grab breakfast?" Julia asked._

 _The other macaw nodded and they were shortly on their way to find something to eat. They were having a conversation when they suddenly came across a mango tree so they flew down and perched on a branch._

" _You get the pleasure to pick all the mangos for us today, honey," Antonio assured her wife._

" _Thanks," she responded simply whilst smiling and she went to go pick out the mangos. It took her some time but after a few minutes she perched by them again and plopped the three mangos down._

" _Enjoy!"_

 _In a matter of seconds, they hastily picked up the mangos and started eating the rich and juicy fruit. A few minutes into the marvelous and fine dining, they heard a really loud sound coming from within the jungle and in close proximity._

" _Antonio? Did you hear that? Let's go check it out. Wait here, honey, we'll be back in a few." said Julia and both the parents left their poor son all alone to wait until they return. Little did the parents know, that the loud sound was produced by a gun._

 _After around 20 minutes of impatiently waiting around for their parents' return, he decided to fly in the direction of their parents because he was getting really worried and his gut feeling already told him that something was wrong._

 _He flew and flew for God knows how long, but he never spotted his parents._

' _I must have gone too far from my parents now though, right? The sound was really close…' Antonio thought to himself._

' _Oh no… what am I going to do… I don't even know where the hollow is!' And that's when it hit him. He ventured too far away to go back to his hollow and he broke down on a branch, crying and sobbing for as he wouldn't ever see his parents ever again._

 _After crying for Cristo Redentor knows how long, he decided that he was going to go exploring to maybe take his mind off of things, so he started flying in a random direction._

* * *

"That was only a few months ago. I've been constantly flying ever since and it seems I flew for so long that I ended up here and I have no idea where to get food from. I'm starving," Flavio said and looked at the ground hopelessly once more, tears threatening to make their presence known in his eyes.

"No worries, buddy! Our house is right there. What's your name?" Tiago asked, feeling bad for him and so were probably his other siblings.

"My name's Flavio. Are you sure your parents allow you?" Flavio asked, still feeling hopeless.

"Oh sure. My dad's nice and so is my mom, it won't be a problem. Follow us in." Tiago said.

Now the group consisted of four birds and they all headed inside through the slightly opened window. Upon entrance, they made their way upstairs and landed on the couch, opposite from Blu and Jewel.

"Oh hey, kids, you're back. And who's your little friend over there?" Blu asked curiously.

"Hello, sir. My name's Flavio and I saw your, I'm guessing, kids playing around in the snow outside the bookstore, so I thought I'd make friends."

"Oh, I understand. But what's such a rare bird like you doing out here in the city?" Blu asked.

"Guess I'll retell again…"

After around 5 minutes, Flavio was done again with his story, the other three birds, who were now his friends, being there for emotional support for when he was going to break down. Both Blu and Jewel were astonished because they could relate to the poor bird, so they did what was right.

"I'm so sorry to hear that…" said Blu, still shocked.

"Can I stay please, sir?" Flavio asked.

"Of course you can! You deserve this after all you've been through, it must've been hard. Right, Jewel?" Blu responded and eyed Jewel shortly after, waiting for (hopefully) a positive response.

"I don't see a reason to torture you any longer, buddy," Jewel responded and smiled.

Out of pure joy, Flavio ran up to Jewel and hugged her midsection.

"Oh my god, thank you so much!" Flavio showed appreciation whilst happy tears were streaming from his eyes like a waterfall.

"It's okay, let it all out," Jewel responded to his reaction by stroking his head feathers and she could feel the feathers around her stomach getting a little damp.

"May we ask, Flavio, how old are you?" Carla asked their newly made friend.

Flavio, after removing himself from Jewel's midsection, responded: "I'm one year old."

The whole Gunderson family gasped out of shock and also a little bit of pity, as no creature that young deserves to go through something like that.

"I'm so sorry for what you went through, you must be traumatized," Carla said.

"Oh, it's nothing, really. Can we go play outside some more, please? I don't really want to talk about it anymore…" Flavio responded and looked down at the ground again.

"Sure, Flavio," Tiago responded to him and smiled.

A short while after, the kids all flew outside again through the slightly open window and the only ones left in the bookstore again were Blu, Jewel and the humans.

"Wow… poor thing. We have to help him somehow… but how, Blu?" Jewel asked Blu, holding a primary wing feather to her chin.

"Hmm… What do you think about adopting him? I mean… if Tulio and Linda could adopt Fernando, then why can't we? Speaking of Fernando, where on Earth is he?" Blu asked, confused.

Just as if on cue, the door opened to the bookstore to reveal someone stepping inside and you guessed it, it was Fernando. The two birds flew over to him and perched on both of his shoulders.

"Hey, guys! How have you been?" Fernando asked, overjoyed.

Jewel responded by cawing and rubbing against his cheek affectionately. During the time she had been with Blu, she had grown very accustomed to humans and finally understood that not all humans are bad.

"I'll take that as a "good". Alright, I'll go check on how Linda and Tulio are doing," Fernando declared as the birds flew away from his shoulders.

"Okay now, where were we? Ah, yes, the kid. What do you say, Jewel?" Blu looked at Jewel in hopes that she'd agree.

Jewel looked at him and then away, at the same time contemplating if she should do it.

"Uhh… I… I guess? I mean, we can't just leave him in this cold city, right?" Jewel finally responded and as a way to show that Blu was happy, he grabbed her and kissed her passionately. At first, Jewel was taken aback, but she later embraced it.

Finally, after quite a while, they broke away from the kiss, a blissful taste left in both of their mouths.

"Thank you, Jewel," Blu broke the silence after they had been staring at each other lovingly for God knows how long.

"But, let's keep it a secret from him until we have to leave okay? Let's not put him into a state of shock yet," Jewel said quickly just as Blu was about to fly away from the couch.

He turned back to Jewel and said: "Sure."

* * *

Meanwhile, the now quartet of birds were having fun playing with snow and they could finally have an equal amount of birds - two on each team, as opposed to the last time when there were only three birds so one team would've had to "gang up" on the other team.

After playing in the snow for quite some time now, the sun seemed to start to set and the birds decided to go inside as the temperature was also dropping significantly and they definitely didn't want to catch a cold.

Upon entering inside, they were greeted by none other than Blu and Jewel.

"Hi there! Just as if on time, the big Christmas dinner is ready. Come upstairs as that's where we will be having it," Blu greeted them, smiling, as he and Jewel started to fly back upstairs.

"Alright, let's go guys," Tiago declared.

Shortly after, they flew upstairs and perched each behind their bowl consisting of a mix of fruits and seeds. Everyone had a fantastic time and everyone was enjoying their food and socializing (well obviously humans and birds couldn't really socialize that well but whatever).

Time flew by so quickly that they didn't even realize that Santa Claus was knocking on the bookstore's front door. Only Linda knew that the person who was in the Santa Claus suit was no other than Tulio himself.

Linda quickly rushed downstairs and to the front door to open the door. After Tulio stepped in, a huge bag of gifts thrown over his shoulder, Linda yelled: "Hey, guys! Santa is here!"

After very many loud thumps from upstairs and a lot of commotion, Fernando with all the birds came rushing downstairs to see Santa Claus.

Everyone was thrilled and very excited as to what presents they would get. Many minutes later, all the gifts were given out and everyone was happy and content with their gifts. Since the kids were so full of energy from excitement and satisfaction, Jewel and Blu decided that they'd give them some time to cool down until they could go to bed.

After around 15 minutes, the kids were getting sleepier and sleepier by every passing minute. Jewel saw this as a good time to step in.

"Alright, kids. Time for bed now," she declared over the living room where the kids were currently residing in.

The kids started to head to their bedroom and the last one to pass by Jewel was Flavio, but before he did, he had a question.

"Excuse me, ma'am, but where should I sleep?"

Jewel was taken aback from his very polite manners for a short while but then answered.

"You can sleep in the same room with your friends. I'm sure they will give you some room to fit in," Jewel responded and gave him a quick smile whilst he was still oblivious to the fact that they were going to adopt him anyways.

"Thank you! Good night," Flavio said to Jewel.

"Good night."

As Flavio entered the bedroom, Jewel said something under her breath for the last time purposefully, so that Flavio didn't hear her.

"Son."

* * *

 _27th December 2018_

It was morning and also the last day of their lovely vacation in Moose Lake and everybody was starting to wake up. Since they were residing in a bedroom of the bookstore, not their birdhouse, they could easily make room for Flavio, since they were sleeping on a _huge_ bed (in the birds' perspective).

After some time, the kids all woke up at the same time as they were huddled together in the bed to keep warm so a huge movement like rising up from the bed would cause everyone to wake.

"Oh, good morning, guys," Flavio was the first one to greet everybody groggily.

"Good morning," the rest of the kids said in unison.

"Let's go head out and see what everybody else is doing, shall we?" Carla suggested.

They nodded and shortly after, they were on their way out of the bedroom. When they arrived in the living room, they could see both Blu and Jewel perched on the couch. Blu gestured to the kids with his wing to "come right here".

They understood what Blu was getting at so they made their way to the couch and landed on it.

"So, kids, before we head back to the Amazon, we need to eat breakfast, because the flight is going to be very long and I think you all already knew this, but I'm saying this because of Flavio. Now, regarding Flavio, Jewel has something to say," Blu declared and let Jewel speak next.

"Okay, Flavio. This may shock you, but we have discussed this with Blu already and we wanted to ask you something. Do you want to be a part of our family?"

Flavio was taken aback and shocked. He had to admit, he did have a lot of fun with their kids and they've grown to like each other more than just a friendship. Flavio felt like they were his siblings, so he decided with his heart.

"Of course!" Flavio said out of pure joy. He had never felt this happy before in his life.

"Welcome to the family, _son_ ," Blu said the word he had wanted to say to Flavio for quite some time now.

"Alright, I think we should go eat breakfast now. Let's go," Blu declared.

The group of birds all flew upstairs to see Linda, Tulio, and Fernando already munching on their breakfast. The birds landed on the counter they were dining on and the humans got the hint that the birds were ready for breakfast.

Linda set down a bowl of fruits in front of every bird and they started also happily dining with the humans and everyone was enjoying the meal together.

When the birds were done with their voluminous meal, Blu flew over to a piece of paper he spotted on the desk and started scribbling that they were leaving back for the Amazon.

Linda spotted the paper and they all shared one last goodbye with the humans, including Blu's trademark fistbump with Linda. The birds then started their long trip back to the Amazon to await the new year that was soon about to come.

* * *

 **A/N: I hope you enjoyed my (** _ **very late**_ **) Christmas special story! Sorry for it being** _ **this**_ **late, I was spending time with my family so I hope you understand the reasoning. Until next time, which will be a New Year's Eve special story, so stay tuned! (I hope I can publish that story on time, unlike this one)**


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